TheWorldSeriesof Pokermainevent is the
“holygrail”ofpoker. Itscrownedchampionshave
become immortals of the sport. Winners like
Doyle Brunson, “Puggy”Pearson, Phil Hellmuth
and ScottyNguyenhave all etched their names
in history, their photos on proud display in Las
Vegas’ famous Binion’s Gambling Hall. Inmore
recent years the tournament hasmade legends
outofnobodies, turningaverageJoes intomulti-
millionaires.
Traditionally poker tournaments were
playedover oneday, sometimes extendingwell
into thegruelingearlyhoursof themorning.This
“endurancefactor”waspartofthefascinationand
skill of thecontest. Due to increasingpopularity
tournaments began to be conducted over two
days. Now, many of the larger tournaments are
foughtoutover several daysorevenas longasa
week, as it is often impossible to seat all players
ondayone.
The poker community wanted longer
tournaments toaffordplayersmore time toshow
their class at the table. Poker tournaments have
alwaysbeenawarofattrition.Hourafterhour,day
after day, players were one stupidmove or one
unlucky turn of the cards away from taking the
walkof shameas a shell-shockedmess. Thatwas
tournamentpoker andweall loved it.
In2008 thepeoplebehind theWorldSeries
ofPoker (WSOP)decidedtheyweregoingtomake
a fundamental change. Instead of slogging out
themaineventuntil oneplayerwas left standing
inmid July, theywould only play down to nine
playersat that time.Thesenineplayers–dubbed
the “November Nine”–would comeback inmid
November to determine the winner. The merit
of this innovation has been debated by poker
aficionados theworldover.
The change was made for the benefit
of television and the accompanying revenue
provided. ItgaveESPN time tomarketninenewly
mademillionairesand their impendingbattle for
manymillionsmore.The rationalewassoundand
anotherchapterof the televisedpokerboomwas
written.Pokerwasabouttomould itsproduct into
apseudo-livetelevision format. In2011ESPNeven
broadcast almost-live (with a 30 minute delay)
世界扑克锦标赛（WSOP）主赛事是扑克
界的“圣杯”。摘得桂冠的选手们已成为扑克
界不朽的名字。像Doyle Brunson、“Puggy”
Pearson、Phil Hellmuth以及Scotty Nguyen这
样的冠军都已将名字嵌入历史，他们的照片展
示在拉斯维加斯著名的比尼恩博彩厅中。最近
几年里，该赛事将毫无名气的选手变成了传奇
人物，将普通人变成了百万富翁。
传统扑克赛都在一日内完成，有时比赛会
持续到第二天早上。这种“耐力因素”是扑克
赛的魅力所在，也是选手竞技的一部分。由于
扑克赛日益攀升的流行度，比赛开始分两日进
行。如今，很多大型比赛分几日、甚至一周进
行，因为首轮比赛往往容纳不了众多选手同时
开战。
选手们希望看到更长的比赛，这样有更多
时间展现他们的技巧。扑克赛一直都是一场消
耗战。小时接小时，一日复一日，选手们与失
意离场的距离仅是一个愚蠢的举动或一次不幸
的翻牌。这就是扑克锦标赛，一项令我们沉迷
不已的竞技。
2008年，WSOP决策人作了一个根本性的变
革。7月中旬的主赛事中，比赛将进行到剩下九
名选手，而不是一名！这九名选手（被称为“
十一九”）将于11月份重返这里一诀高下。该
模式在世界众多扑克迷中引起了争议。
这种改变是为了电视媒体的利益，以及
随之而来的收入。它使得ESPN有足够的时间来
推销这九位新诞生的百万富翁，以及即将到来
的为更多个百万奖金展开的激烈争斗。这种解
释是合理的，电视扑克热的另一个篇章被书
写。扑克即将把自己的产品塑造成准电视直播
模式。2011年ESPN在主赛事一开始就几乎直播
（晚30分钟），这种举动收到的评论大部分是
正面的。
大型赛事意味着大的产业，大的产业往
往要与增加收入的惯例相妥协。30年前，谁曾
想到足球赛会被延迟，直到电视台从广告中回
来？在NBA，他们甚至不去掩盖这个事实：那
些控制比赛的人正坐在家里的沙发上。有些人
也许会感到反感，但每个人都要谋得生计。我
们渴望更多的现场体育节目，但有时进步与代
价是并存的。
观看奥林匹克运动会上百米短跑常常比
观看马拉松要过瘾。在现场体育报道中，扑克
就是一场超级马拉松。它是一场超级忍耐力的
较量，需要花费数日时间，而非几小时。比赛
过程中会有毫无看头的阶段。为解决这个问
题，ESPN采用了专题报道形式，有精彩行动时
再切回比赛桌。
扑克还是一个建立于公正基础上的游戏。
大体来说，电视还没有侵犯到这一点。在现场
扑克赛直播时，我们可以看到选手的底牌，但
目前还没有可靠证据显示选手们能从中不正当
获益。然而，WSOP中的“适者生存”因素是否
会因九名选手休战四个月而受到削弱？答案很
可能是肯定的。休战是压力阀的释放。选手可
以离开、冷静，准备下一次战斗。
该赛事在规模上的绝对地位允许它可以
与众不同，看起来“十一九大会战”会持续下
去。只要该模式仅为例外，而非惯例，我们就
应该接受，毕竟这是世界上最大型、最重要的
扑克赛。
访问我们的网站www.wgm8.com查阅《环球博彩》刊登的所有文章。
Visitourwebsitewww.wgm8.com to readeveryarticleeverpublished
by
WorldGaming.
from the startof themainevent, amove thathas
beenmetwithmostlypositive reviews.
Big events mean big business and big
business often has to tamper with tradition to
increase revenue. Thirty years ago who would
have thought that games of football would be
delayed until television stations returned from
commercial breaks? In the NBA they don’t even
try to hide the fact that those who control the
game are at homeon the couch. Somemay find
itdistastefulbuteveryonehastomakeabuck.We
continue tohunger formoreandmore live sport,
but sometimesprogress comesat aprice.
Watching the 100-meter sprint at the
Olympics is alwaysmore exciting thanwatching
the marathon. When it comes to live sporting
coverage, poker isanultramarathon. It isagame
ofmega-endurance and it takes days, not hours.
There are long periods when nothing happens.
To counter this ESPN has offered up a topical
coverage that crosses back to a table when
somethingexcitingoccurs.
Poker is also a game based around
integrity and for the most part television has
not encroachedupon that.Weget to seeplayers’
hole cards whenwatching live poker but there
has never been any credible suggestion that the
contestants have surreptitiouslybenefitted from
this. But is the “survival of the fittest” element
of theWSOP diminished by giving the last nine
playersnearly fourmonthsoff?Theanswer to this
isprobablyyes. It isareleaseof thepressurevalve.
Playersget togoaway, compose themselvesand
prepare for thenextbattle.
The sheer popularity of this unique
tournamentsuggests itcanhandlebeingdifferent
to other competitions played throughout the
world. It appears that the “November Nine”
innovation is here to stay. As long as this format
becomes the exception rather than the norm,
thenwe should embrace theWSOPmain event
for what it is: the biggest and most important
tournamentof themall.
63
DoyleBrunson
“Puggy”Pearson
PhilHellmuth
ScottyNguyen
第
13
期
2011
年
11
月
/12
月
|#13NOV/DEC2011
